I know it’s probably not the best way to go in terms of getting more locos and rolling stock, but…I just got a Bachman HO train set called the American(there, I said it). It’s actually pretty cool. It’s got a 0-6-0 steam loco with a vanderbilt tender (the engine and tender have a two tone grey paint scheme), a 3-dome tanker, an open top hopper, and a wide vision caboose. What do you think[?], do you think I went the best way in terms of getting more stuff? I think so because it comes with a loco, some freight cars, track and a power pack, and some telephone polls.
At least you’ve got something to run 
Seriously, the american is a decent set, not to shabby and easily upgradeable to a better engine in time.
Jay
That’s not a bad deal you got there, since it includes a lot of unique-looking equipment, but this fact is also its biggest weakness. I can’t say much about the quality of Bachmann HO these days, but I suspect it is low based on my experience with their N-scale stuff. The thing is, the 0-6-0 steam engine represents a switcher that would have been hard at work shuffling cars in a rail yard, rather than hauling them between towns (though I’m sure they might have done this at some point in time). It would have been in service in the first half of the 20th century, likely in the 30’s or 40’s at the latest (I haven’t seen the model to know for sure). The open-top hopper might represent something from a later time period, though again I haven’t seen it to know for sure, and the 3-dome tank car would be appropriate for a 30’s time period. The big problem is the wide-vision caboose, which wasn’t around until about 1960 I think, by which time almost all railroads had gone over to diesel engines instead of steam.
In short, that train as it is would look a bit funny to anyone who knows trains. I am puzzled as to why Bachmann would package their product this way; it can’t cost them any more to bundle engines, cars, and cabeese that belong together! I know they have an extensive-enough product line to do so.
So, I hope I’m not raining on your parade, certainly you can run whatever you want to on your line! Sometimes, you just gotta go for the thing that catches your eye, heedless of the logic of it; as an example, I run a Florida East Coast BL-2 right alongside my Norfolk & Western SD-45’s in West Virginia, where no FEC engine ever trod, just because the thing looks so sporting good! The train set you picked up, though, will present you with a dilemma as you come to appreciate railroads all the more, and you’ll end up wanting to favor modeling one era or another, which seems to mean that you’ll give up using something from the set. That’s why most modelers buy items separately.
I believe the first wide-vision cabeese were built around 1952-1953.
Thanks for the comments, you guys. That caboose thing does puzzle me now that you metion it. I guess I chose the set with the 0-6-0 because; A: it was $41.00. and B: a 0-6-0 can nogotiate sharp curves, like those found on some of the lines on my 5x8.